Quote and supply management system

ABSTRACT

A computerised management system for a business schedules a date to provide a quote for the provision of a product or service, in response to a client request; stores data relating to a quote approved by a client; schedules resources, such as labour and goods, required for the provision of the product or service relating to an approved quote; and stores a provision deadline corresponding to the date by which the product or service should be provided to the client.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to business management and is particularlyconcerned with servicing businesses such as those associated withinstalling security screens.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The process of servicing a product in a retail and/or wholesale marketis both complicated and time consuming. The demand on a business toperform to a high level while keeping control of costs is difficult andwith a limited time available to ensure that all the required processesare carried out it is extremely difficult to effectively manage theperformance of many varied processes.

As an example during particularly busy periods the focus of manybusinesses is on the most urgent and pressing issues at the time andthey rely on manual processes to ensure that other required duties areaddressed during this period.

Therefore reporting systems within the business are often minimal,leading to problems arising that are often difficult to rectify.

There are areas outside the “quote and service” areas such as debtors,payroll etc that require constant monitoring. Because smaller businessestend to operate with small profit margins, quite often there areinsufficient resources to control all the areas of business managementthat need to be controlled.

The aim of the present invention is to provide a management system whichis able to assist management of a business.

In its preferred form the invention provides a management system whichis able to be implemented utilising data processing hardware andsoftware to assist with management of a business.

Existing software systems for businesses primarily are concerned withaccounting functions of a business. Some software systems also includeelectronic diaries for business management purposes, but theseelectronic diaries do little to assist with management of a business.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to the present invention there is provided a management systemfor a business, which management system is adapted for implementation bya computer, the management system comprising a job inquiry and quotationmeans which is adapted to receive data relating to a request from aclient to provide a quote for the provision of at least one productand/or service and operate a quote scheduling means to retrievepredetermined quote data whereby a schedule is created for a quote datebeing a date for providing the quote to the client, a job managementmeans which is adapted to receive data relating to a successful quoteapproved by a client, including the or each product and or servicerequested by the client and operate an operations scheduling means toretrieve predetermined operations data to create an operations scheduleto schedule resources required for the provision of the or each productand/or service for the successful quote and store a provision deadlinebeing the date by which the product and/or service of the successfulquote should be provided to the client who approved the successfulquote.

Preferably the operations scheduling means is adapted to schedule labourand goods required for the provision of the or each product and/orservice for each successful quote.

Preferably the resources includes labour and goods.

It is preferred that the operations scheduling means is adapted toschedule procedures involving the resources, which procedures enable theprovision of the or each product and/or service for each successfulquote.

Preferably the management system includes an administration means whichis adapted to record data relating to input and output costs of thebusiness being managed by the management system.

It is preferred that the job inquiry and quotation means comprises amodule in a computer program.

The job management means may comprise a module in a computer program.

The job inquiry and quotation means and job management means preferablyinclude separate input icons accessible from a main menu of themanagement system.

The administration module may be adapted to communicate accounting datafrom the management system to an independent accounting program.

Alternatively the administration means comprises accounting proceduralprocesses for providing accounting reports.

It is preferred that the job inquiry and quotation means is adapted tocreate a job inquiry labour database for storing names of persons ableto act on the inquiry and provide the quote.

Preferably the job inquiry and quotation means is adapted to create adatabase of products and/or services available for the quote.

The operations scheduling means preferably includes quote allocationmeans which is adapted to allocate a quote person from the job inquirylabour database to provide the quote.

Preferably the job inquiry and quotation means is adapted to create apending quotes request database including data relating to the clientrequesting the quote and the or each product and/or service for which aquote is requested.

Preferably the quote data includes the quote person, the client, theproduct and/or service, the date for visiting a client and the due datefor supplying the quote.

The job inquiry and quotation means may include quote monitoring meansfor monitoring when each quote request is answered by the quote person.

Preferably the job inquiry and quotation means is adapted to create asource of inquiry database which includes a list of sources ofinquiries.

It is preferred that the management system includes a settings meanswhich is adapted to receive reference data relating to each productand/or service available to the business.

Preferably the job inquiry and quotation means includes a data entrymeans which is adapted to receive data relating to the request from aclient, being a new job, and create a file for each new job.

It is preferred that each job file includes data relating to the clientand the product and/or service requested by the client.

It is preferred that the data entry means includes the quote schedulingmeans.

Preferably the quote allocation means is adapted to retrieve quotepersons names from the job inquiry labour database whereby one or morequote persons names may be added to the new job file to thereby providethe quote requested by the client.

According to one embodiment the quote allocation means automaticallysearches databases and allocates a quote person to a new job based onpredetermined criteria relating to jobs already allocated to the quoteperson.

According to a further embodiment of the invention the quote allocationmeans is adapted to retrieve data from databases and create a file foreach quote person which file includes data relating to each quote/job,the quote person has yet to provide.

Preferably the quote allocation means is adapted to create a filelisting all jobs/quotes which do not have a quote person allocatedthereto.

It is preferred that the quote allocation means includes a quote personscheduling means for determining the quote person with the least amountof jobs/quotes and allocating the new jobs/quote to that quote person.

The source of inquiry database may include files with fields fordifferent types of advertising, names of referees, names of exhibitionsor any other source of obtaining an inquiry.

Preferably the quote monitoring means includes an overdue indicatorwhich is adapted to provide an overdue output indication if a quoterequest is not answered by the due date.

The job inquiry and quotation means preferably is adapted to recordunsuccessful quotes and data related thereto.

The job inquiry and quotation means may include quote report means whichis adapted to retrieve data from the job inquiry labour database, theproducts and/or services database, the quote request database and quotemonitoring means and process selected retrieved data to outputstatistical data including one or more of the following:

-   -   inquiry source, quote person, client location and type, product,        service, speed of quote provision, cancellation of quote request        by client, cost quoted and strike rates.

Preferably the job inquiry and quotation means includes a job inquirymanifest means for creating a job manifest for each quote request usingdata from anyone or more of the databases.

It is preferred that the job inquiry manifest means is adapted to createa job manifest for each quote person.

Preferably each job manifest includes data relating to each quoterequest including client details, product and/or service details and duedate details.

Preferably the job inquiry manifest means is adapted to create a jobmanifest for each quote person.

The job inquiry and quotation means preferably includes a job leadsmanifest means for creating a job leads manifest including a list of allleads which may be the source of a request for a quote for a productand/or service.

It is preferred that the job leads manifest includes data relating tothe names of any potential new client associated with the lead.

It is preferred that the quote scheduling means is adapted to schedulequote labour, a visit deadline, being a date for the quote labour tovisit the client and obtain data required to prepare the quote.

It is preferred that the job inquiry and quotation means includes quotemanagement report means which is adapted to retrieve data from databasesand create files grouping predetermined types of data together.

According to one embodiment the predetermined data types groupedtogether may be that relating to a quote person, a region where clientsare located, an advertising source or other statistical information.

It is preferred that the job inquiry and quotation means includes aquote job control means which is adapted to retrieve data relating tojobs with an expired due date.

It is preferred that a job/quote file includes a completion date fieldwhich is adapted to receive a completion date that is before the duedate.

The quote job control means is adapted to add a job/quote file to thequote job control file if the current date is past the due date andthere is no completion date in the completion date field.

It is preferred that the quote job control means is adapted to create anunallocated jobs file which is adapted to retrieve files for job/quoteswhich do not have a quote person entered in the quote person field.

The job management means may include a resource database including datarelating to each product and/or service able to be provided by thebusiness, raw materials available to make the or each type of productand/or service and resource labour available to provide each type ofproduct and/or service.

The resource labour may include manufacturing labour available tomanufacture one or more types of product.

The resource database may include data relating to each type of productavailable in stock.

Preferably the resourcing database includes data relating to rawmaterials and/or products which need to be outsourced.

The job management means may include a manufacturing operation meanswhich includes procedures required to manufacture at least one type ofproduct.

The manufacturing operation means may include timing data for settingtimes for commencing and finishing procedures required for manufactureof one or more products.

The operations scheduling means may include resource allocation meanswhich is adapted to retrieve data from the resource database andallocate resource labour to produce at least one product and/or servicerequired for one or more clients.

It is preferred that the predetermined operations data includes thatdata stored in the resource database.

It is preferred that the operations scheduling means is adapted tocreate a file having data relating to a job/quote, the products and/orservices associated with the job/quote and the manufacturing operatingmeans.

It is preferred that the manufacturing operation means includes aplurality of manufacturing operations options, each manufacturingoperation option being adapted to store data relating to proceduresrequired to complete at least one manufacturing process for a product.

It is preferred that the manufacturing operation means includes aprocess scheduler which is adapted to store timing data for at least oneof the manufacturing operations for a particular job/quote and calculateand produce timing data associated with other manufacturing operationsfor the job/quote.

It is preferred that the process scheduler creates a file which is ableto be viewed on a computer screen.

It is preferred that the management system is able to create files fordata stored in any one of the data bases and present this on a computerscreen for viewing.

It is preferred that any file created by the management system is ableto be viewed on a computer screen.

It is preferred that the process scheduler is able to reschedule ajob/quote by comparing a completion date received for that job/quotewith completion dates for other job/quotes stored on a process schedulerdata base.

It is preferred that the process scheduler is adapted to retrieve datafrom the operations schedule.

It is preferred that the product resource labour is adapted to eithermanufacture product or procure product from a source outside thebusiness.

The resource allocation means is preferably adapted to retrieveprocedures from the manufacturing operation means, which procedures arerequired to produce the/each product and/or service whereby a resourcingmanifest is able to be created including data relating to the requestedproduct and/or service of the successful quote, the allocated productresource labour and completion date for providing the/each productand/or service whereby it is available for the client of the successfulquote.

Preferably the management system includes provision control means whichis adapted to record each provision date, being the date for providingthe or each product and/or service of a successful quote to theassociated client.

It is preferred that the provision control means retrieves thecompletion date from the resourcing manifest.

Preferably the resourcing allocation means is adapted to allocateprovision labour, including a provision person, being labour forproviding the or each available product and/or service of a successfulquote to an associated client.

The provision control means may include a provision database includingdata on each provision person available to provide the or each serviceto an associated client.

The provision control means may be adapted to create a provisionmanifest including the name of each provision person to provide the oreach product and/or service, provision procedures including proceduresto provide the or each product and/or service to an associated clientand a provision deadline being a deadline for providing the or eachproduct and/or service to the associated client.

The provision control means may include a provision overdue dataindicator which is adapted to output an indicator for indicating whenthe provision date has passed and the or each product and/or service hasnot been provided to the associated client.

It is preferred that the provision control means comprises aninstallation control means which is adapted to record an installationdate or dates for installing the or each available product and/orservice to the associated client.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention the jobmanagement means includes the provision control means.

It is preferred that the provision control means is a module in acomputer program associated with controlling activities associated withlabour and products required to install a product at a clientsresidence.

Preferably the job management means includes an outsourcing means whichis adapted to retrieve data from a job/quote if the job/quote includes aproduct and/or service which the business does not have.

It is preferred that the order means is adapted to create a file listingall jobs/quotes and their products and/or services which must be orderedfrom outside the business.

It is preferred that the order means includes an order due date fieldfor entering a date by which the order should be filled.

According to another embodiment of the present invention the jobmanagement means includes a check measure means which is adapted toreceive data from a particular job/quote and create a file listingmeasurements of products required for that particular job/quote, wherebya checking procedure is able to be initiated.

It is preferable that the manufacturing schedule includes a checkmeasure field which indicates that measurements have been checked.

It is preferred that the check measurement field overrides manufacturingoperations from being accessible/commenced until the check measurementsfield has been completed.

It is preferred that the operation scheduling means is adapted totransmit data to the provision control means for each job/quote whichhas been approved, which data includes a check measure request which isto be actioned by a provision person.

It is preferred that the management system is in the form of a computerprogram which is able to control a data processor utilising the jobinquiry and quotation means and the job management means.

According to another aspect of the present invention there is provided acomputer program for controlling a business, the computer programcomprising a job inquiry and quotation means which is adapted to controla data processor to receive and store data relating to a request from aclient to provide a quote for the provision of at least one productand/or service and operate a quote scheduling means to schedule a quotedata being a date for providing the quote to the client, and a jobmanagement means which is adapted to control a data processor to receivedata relating to each successful quote approved by each client includingthe or each product and/or service requested by each client, control anoperations scheduling means which is adapted to schedule labour andgoods required for the provision of the or each product and/or servicefor each successful quote and store a provision deadline for eachsuccessful quote, the provision deadline being the date by which theproduct and/or service of the successful quote should be provided to theclient who approved the successful quote.

Preferably the quote scheduling means is adapted to schedule quotelabour to provide the quote.

The quote scheduling means may be adapted to schedule a quote deadlinefor the quote labour to provide the quote.

Preferably the quote scheduling means is adapted to schedule a visitdeadline being a date for the quote labour to visit the client andobtain data required to prepare the quote.

According to one embodiment the quote scheduling means is adapted tocontrol the data processor to set up a quote labour manifest includingdata relating to selected successful quotes allocated to the quotelabour.

The quote labour manifest preferably includes data relating to any oneor more of the following:

-   -   the source of inquiry of the quote;    -   the client associated with the quote including the client type        and location;    -   the or each type of product and/or service for which a quote is        required by the associated client;    -   deadline for providing the quote;    -   deadline for visiting the client to obtain data for providing        the quote;    -   accounting data including costs and revenue;    -   Strike rates, being the number of successful quotes per quote.

It is preferred that the job inquiry and quotation means is adapted toset up a leads manifest being a database of information relating topotential sources of request for quotes.

It is preferred that the leads manifest includes a follow up deadlinewhich provides a prompt to contact the lead to ascertain whether a quoteis required.

Preferably the operations scheduling means is adapted to schedule foreach successful quote a completion date, being a date by which the oreach product and/or service requested by each client, should be madeavailable to provide the or each client.

Preferably the operations scheduling means is adapted to schedule foreach successful quote provision labour to provide available productsand/or services to a respective client.

The operations scheduling means may be adapted to schedule resourcelabour, being labour for providing the or each product and/or service ofthe successful quote by the completion date.

The operations scheduling means may be adapted to schedule productresource procedures for each type of product and/or service of eachsuccessful quote whereby resource labour can provide the or each productand/or service by the completion date.

Preferably the operations scheduling means is adapted to allocateprovision labour to provide the or each product and/or service to aclient of a successful quote by a provision deadline, being the date theor each product and/or service should be provided to the client of thesuccessful quote.

Preferably the computer program includes an exceptions means which isadapted to output an exceptions indicator whenever any deadline ispassed without necessary actions being taken.

It is preferred that the computer program includes management reportmeans for retrieving selected data stored on a data processor as aresult of controlling operations by the job inquiry and quotation meansand the job management means.

It is preferred that the management report means is adapted to retrievedata from any manifest stored on a data processor under the control ofthe computer program.

It is preferred that the operations scheduling means is adapted tocommunicate with an operations procedure means of the computer programto retrieve predetermined data on procedures required in order toprovide at least one of the products and/or services, whereby labourallocated to provide the or each product and/or service is able toaccess the operations procedures to follow the procedures and providethe or each product and/or service by the completion date.

Preferably the operation procedure means provides a time period forproviding at least one of the products and/or services.

The words “comprising, having, including” should be interpreted in aninclusive sense, meaning that additional features may also be added.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described byway of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings inwhich:

FIG. 1 shows a flow diagram for a management system according to apreferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 shows a flow diagram of a sales module of the management systemshown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 shows a customer service module of the software management systemshown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 shows an operations module flow diagram of the softwaremanagement system shown in Figure;

FIG. 5 shows an administration module of the software management systemshown in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 6 shows a flow diagram of the business management system accordingto the preferred embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

According to the preferred embodiment of the invention a managementsystem is described as implemented using a computer program.

The preferred embodiment describes an application of the invention in abusiness involved in providing security screens for buildings.

The aim of the management system is not to identify minute detailsassociated with every type of a business but is aimed at identifying thekey tasks in management and running of a sales, operations and servicebusiness. A management system is then created using these key areas tosystemise the processes so that they run efficiently and effectively. Bydoing so management can begin to work on the business in contrast toadversely working in the business.

This time saving enables management to take advantage of the systemreports available within the business and to take a proactive stancetowards the future rather than the reactive stance most businesses areforced to adopt because of inadequate resources in the management andadministration areas.

The preferred embodiment is intended to be a real time management toolfor managing the key areas of a business.

According to the preferred embodiment four key areas are identifiedwithin the management system. These are sales, service, operation andadministration.

In sales the initial focus is in the qualifying of leads and thecreation of a work sheet (manifest) for the sales representatives.

The response to the quotes is then measured with approved jobs goinginto the operations and service areas while the still outstanding quotes(pendings) are managed through a specialised follow-up program).

Performance reports are available for the entire sales process as wellas exception reports (exception reports are reports listing work tasksthat have been missed or neglected by the staff).

In the service and operations area, the process involves securing theexact requirements relating to the product or service and theconfirmation of the dates the job is to be supplied or completed. Oncethe product is available or the service is able to be performed, themanifest of work is created for either the supply of, or theinstallation of, the product or service.

This is not limited to including the primary work, but also any servicecalls that are required.

There is also a verification process available if the sales staff arenot adept at understanding or servicing the final product or service.

This process allows for the use of specialists rather than serviceproviders performing in the sales area. All processes are once againbacked up by both management reports and exception reports in order toensure that jobs are on track and provided on the data arranged with thecustomer.

The operations area, working off the delivery or installed datesprovided by the service area, is provided with an operations schedule.

This schedule is calculated by the system and determines the date uponwhich the product or service is required to be in operation in order forthe product or service to be supplied or installed on the correct date.The system can take into account any product regardless of its origin.This whole process is structured by each individual business by simplyutilising a “schedular” program. This program acknowledges a turn aroundtime for any given product or service. The business is then suppliedwith a forecast report showing any operational procedures required on agiven day, any finished product or service that may need to be sourcedand any other product or service that needs to be available at a givendate to ensure the supply or installation of the product or service bythe required date.

Exception reports in this area are used to determine if a product orservice is running behind schedule, enabling the business to react intime rather than disappointing a customer.

The administration side of the system covers those onerous jobs that arerequired in a business and can be so easily overlooked.

These may be the time consuming and tedious tasks, the hard to controltasks and the necessary tasks required by business with regard to taxissues.

Integral to the system is the reconciliation capacity of the systemwhich monitors, sales, receipts, GST, etc.

The system monitors and calculates wages for sales and operationalstaff, has a complete debtors program, monitors banking and invoicingetc. This makes the administration side of a business both structuredand accurate.

The system is intended to be a complete business plan.

It is preferred that the system enables any retailing or wholesalingbusiness to control its products, services and work force. It enables abusiness to control measure and use the available resources to maximiseboth profits and its penetration into the marketplace.

FIG. 1 shows a work flow diagram of five key modules of the managementsystems software 10. These modules include a sales module 11, a servicemodule 12, a scheduling module 13, an administration module 14 and asettings module 15.

It is noted that the settings module is an activity usually onlyperformed when setting up a new system.

It should be noted that for the preferred embodiment, it is desirable tosplit the particular key tasks in the manner described. However, inpractice many of the operations falling within each module may overlap.

Sales

As shown in FIG. 2 the management system software includes a salesmodules which is designed to control data processes involved with thesales area of a business and to also maximum the effectiveness of asales division by integrating processes that will assist in an increasedconversion of quoted jobs into approved jobs.

Sales effectiveness can be influenced by a number of factors, theforemost being the ability of a company to ensure all leads generatedwithin the business are serviced and followed through.

Advertising and lead generation programs can be a costly and timeconsuming exercise. It is therefore important that the opportunities tocreate sales are not wasted due to the inability to control andmanipulate the work flow.

There are two types of leads generated into the business. The first ofthese is a customer requiring an appointment on a particular date. Theseare entered directly into the system to appear on a salesrepresentative's work sheet. The second is a lead generated through suchvarious forms of advertising a business may involve itself in. Theseleads are entered into the leads generated section of the system.

Due to their nature these leads need to be requalified to take them fromthe lead status to an appointment status which in turn will then directthem to the representative's work sheets. All customers on the leadsgenerated list are phoned to ensure that all representative's worksheets, (manifests), represent quotes and that they are not loaded withpoorly qualified work.

Once manifests are issued the system tracks the performance of the salesrepresentatives to ensure that all appointments are serviced. Reportsare available to management that track performances in all areas ofsales measuring such factors as strike rates, actual sales, productstatistics etc. These performance indicators can be used to measure theeffectiveness of any current work procedures and to measure any changesshould the current work procedures be altered.

Exception reporting is also available to sales and is used to assesswhether the work allocated to staff members is being carried out withinthe allotted period. This type of reporting is critical to maximisingthe effectiveness of advertising and the approval rate when quoting.

In general sales are about controlling the leads generated throughcontrolled and measured advertising, correctly servicing those leads andfollowing all work through to a conclusion.

The management software system offers the tools required and appliedcorrectly can increase business performance in all areas of sales.

As shown in FIG. 2 the sales module of the management software is basedon a sales flow chart for the business.

With any new job it is necessary to enter data relating to that job.

The type of data entered depends upon the particular situation. Thus thesales software 11 contains a data entry menu 16 which includes afind/job quote icon 17 which has an associated sub-program which isdesigned to receive data relating to a customer and initiate a searchroutine to produce a customer file containing data relating to theproducts for which the customer requires a quote, the install date forthe products, if any service calls are required or have alreadyoccurred, invoice details, payments, commissions, adjustments and jobdetails. The available data in each customer file is a recorded historyof the past and present customers. All transactions and future movementsof a customers product are available and kept after completion forfuture references.

Another option for the data entry is an icon called add new job 18. Thisicon is associated with a sub-program which enables a new job to becreated.

The sub-program 18 prompts data entry on a new customer such as thecustomer surname, suburb, job source, job group and date.

A database is thus created of jobs/quotes for particular customers. Fora new job it is necessary to allocate a sales representative to do thejob of providing a quote to the customer.

Accordingly the data entry menu 16 includes an allocated quote rep icon19. This icon is associated with a sub-program which when activated byan inquiry searches through the database of customers/job/quotes toproduce a list of any quotes which have not had a sales representativeallocated thereto. A sales representative can then be added in anappropriate field associated with a particular job.

Thus a sales database is created with data such as job details,customer, install date, sales representative which may be searched toaccess a particular file. Thus for the example given there are eighttabs which each contain file data relating to the name of that tab.

Once job files have been created and relevant data entered into therelevant tabs, it is necessary to provide each quote representative withreports in the form of a representative manifest. These representativemanifests provide instructions to the sales representative with regardto their work load for any given date.

A representative manifest icon 20 is provided as an option in the dataentry menu 16.

The representative manifest icon is associated with a sub-program whichprovides access to a database of manifests for each salesrepresentative.

The representative manifest includes data on each job number andcustomer details as well as appointments and date to be quoted and afollow up option, where customers previously quoted require a follow upcall that evening.

When a representative manifest has been created the manifest is given tothe sales representative the day before the quote is to be done. Thedate is only booked for the sales representative and an exact time forthe appointment is to be decided between the customer and the salesrepresentative when the sales representatives phones the evening before.This enables the sales representative to make up a schedule that bestsuits for efficiently getting around to all of the appointments.

Follow up calls are to be phoned on the day of receiving the manifest.All results of the phone calls (a yes, no, or another follow up date)must be handed back to administration personnel for processing. If asales representative fails to follow up their customer the job willappear on their expired follow up report.

A typical sales manifest includes job number, customer name, address,description of products requiring a quote for supply and installation,final price, phone, after hours phone number, quote deadline and adescription of the action required by the sales representative.

As an example this would be measure and quote.

Another important part of the sales software is the creation of a leadsmanifest 21. This leads manifest 21 appears as an icon in the data entrymenu 16 and enables a listing of leads requiring a further phone call toqualify them before a job is allocated to a sales representative.

An example of this would be a home show with leads for new houses thatare up to six to nine months in the future. The system will keep (inorder of date) reminders to phone the client to see if the time is rightfor a quote.

The leads manifest always uses the company name as the representative.Therefore if a reminder call is not made when it is supposed to be made,the representative in this case the company, will appear on the unquotedjobs report.

The leads manifest icon therefore is a header for a sub-program whichaccesses a database of leads with this database having a job number,customer name, customer address, job description, final price, phone,after hours phone number and the date of allocation.

A final option in the data entry menu 16 a rejects and follow-up icon 22which is a sub-program which provides access to a database of jobsreferenced by job number and customer name and detailing follow up dateswhether the quote is still pending or whether the quote has beenrejected. The sub-program also includes a search routine for accessing aparticular job number.

Another function of the sales software program 11 is to provide salesreports.

These sales reports are accessed through a sales report option 22 whichappears as an icon when entering the sales program 11.

The sales report header 23 provides two options identified by a jobcontrol reports icon 24 and a management reports icon 25.

The job control reports icon provides access to three options. Theseinclude an unquoted job icon option 25, an expired follow-ups optionicon 26 and an unallocated jobs icon option 27.

Because leads are an integral part of any business and it is importantthat all leads are attended to the unquoted jobs icon 25 is a header fora sub-program which lists all leads that have been allocated to arepresentative to be quoted, but have had no results entered into thesystem three days after the quote deadline. Because leads are importantto the business all results from these leads are measured in thesoftware management system for effectiveness.

Typically “unallocated jobs” is the first report in a series ofreporting that ensures company procedures for maximising theeffectiveness of leads is followed through by its employees.

The expired follow ups icon represents a header for a sub-program whichlists follow-ups where no results have been given to administrationstaff of the business.

Unallocated jobs icon 27 provides list of all jobs that have beenunallocated.

Many different reports may be obtained by accessing the managementreports sub-program 25. The options available include management reportson representatives 29, regions 30, advertising 31 or statistics 32.

The representatives option 29 provides four different types ofmanagement reports including actual sales 33, strike rate 34, canceljobs 35 and sales pending 36.

Each of the icons is associated with a sub-program which is able toaccess data from databases which have already been created in the dataentry mode of the sales program.

Actual sales reports provide various options for analysing arepresentatives performance. A strike rate report enables the successrate of representatives to be monitored. This being the number of jobsquoted for against the number of jobs accepted by the customer.Management reports for cancel and sales pending are self-explanatory.

Regional based reports and advertising based reports under icons 30 and31 also enable management reports to be provided based on actual salesor strike rates as represented by icons 37, 38 and 39 and 40respectively.

The advertising management reports also include an option to monitorleads generated through option 41.

General statistical information is available by accessing the statisticsoption 32. This enables management reports based on product statistics42, quote lead time 43, sales timing 44 and pricing reports 45.

It should be apparent from the above that the sales management software11 is able to monitor and effectively control all important aspects ofthe sales area of a business. For convenience the sales managementsoftware has been described in relation to a flow chart as shown in FIG.2.

Service

When a job has been successfully quoted and approved by a customeranother phase of business management is required in order to provide therequired product to the client and install it.

As product is ordered through the sales area the commitment dates fordelivery are dependent upon the service department to ensure the supplyand service is both professional and timely.

The business management software enables a business to control allsupplied products by setting the agenda for the timing and supply andensuring all products are available and ready on the supply date.

When a job is approved an installer needs to be allocated to the job. Inthe security screen business example of the present invention it is notmerely a simple task of sending an installer out to the customer a fewdays after a quote has been approved by the customer.

Typically products required in order to install a security screen orother associated products must be either manufactured by the business orprocured from outside the business.

-   -   if manufacturing is required this also means that raw materials        need to be provided so that the manufacturing process can occur.

All of the processes necessary to provide products so that the installeris able to do his/her job requires management scheduling.

The first step with the customer service side of the business is toenter data.

Thus in a similar fashion to the sales management module a data entrysub-program is provided which lists a number of menu icons which eachhead a sub-program for conducting particular operations.

The customer service module 12 can be broken into three sub-modulesconsisting of a data entry module 50, a progress reports module 51 and aservice report module 52.

The data entry module 50 has a find job/quote module 53, an allocateservice provider module 54, a service provider manifest 55, an approvalschedule 56, a data gathering report icon 57 and a rescheduling icon 58.

The find job/quote icon 53 provides a mechanism for searching throughfiles and accessing data as required, based on job number, quote numberor the customers name.

By selecting the allocate service provider option a sub-program isinitiated which lists each job number, customer name, installationaddress, suburb and the date of approval of a quote.

Additional fields are also provided in a provider file including thename of the service provider and an install date.

In a similar fashion to the sales module 11, a service provider isallocated a job. This is analogous to a quote representative beingallocated a job.

Furthermore a service provider manifest is created by utilising theservice provider manifest option 55. Thus a service provider is able toaccess their manifest by entering the service provider manifest optionand typing in their name. A program is then initiated to search for theservice providers manifest file stored on a database and retrieve thisfor viewing by the service provider. The service providers manifestincludes jobs that will have a service provided, service calls and jobsrequiring further data.

Thus one service provider will have a manifest including details on ajob number, customer name, address, phone number, complete installationdate, paid date and a description of what needs to be installedincluding coded product names, and quantity.

Thus each service provider is able to obtain a report outlining whattheir duties will be and the deadline for performing these duties.

Because it is important to obtain up to date data on what serviceproviders are doing the customer service module 12 includes approvalschedule module 56 which sets a date for data gathering for a serviceprovider as well as the date the service will be provided.

Typically the data gathering date is allocated a few days after theapproval is entered into the system.

The service provider then arranges a final date allowing for the setturn around time for the service to be scheduled.

Once details have been entered in an approval schedule file for thatservice provider a data gathering report sheet is able to be provided bythe approval schedule program for the service provider. On the sheetsthe service provider fills in the data necessary for the service to beprovided.

The approval schedule file includes a field for entering a productiondate for the products required to be installed as well as a factory pickup date.

The data gathering report is used for the generation of data gatheringsheets for a selected job.

By entering a job number a report will be generated for that job only.The data gathering sheets record the finished sizes of products requiredfor installation. They also include diagrams of doors and grilles,instructions for installation, job number, customer name and customeraddress details.

Because the data gathering sheets produced by the data gathering reportmodule 57 are listing of all services required for a selected job, eachservice item is individually listed with check boxes for the serviceprovider to complete.

The completed data gathering sheets are used as a data entry for ascheduling process.

Because each service provider needs to know in advance what work must bedone the progress reports module 51 is used as a forecasting mechanism.

The progress reports module 51 includes menu module items work forecasts59, unallocated service provider 60, overdue data gathering 61,unattended service provider 62, and work TBA 63.

A work forecast report is set up by the work forecast module 59. Thisreport is used to forecast what work a service provider has between anydate range. The report advises the service support staff that within aselected period they should be aware of the following details which arefields in work forecast report file:

What service group does the service come under?;

-   -   What is the service type?;    -   Which service provider (“or all”).

To use the report the service support staff may choose any one of thefields in the service group, service or service provider categories.Alternatively the service support staff may leave any of these fieldsblank which will automatically select all combinations in that category.

The work forecast report enables the average workload of any particularservice provider to be reviewed. This can then be used as an indicatoror whether that person is able to service the quantity of clients or isunder utilised.

It follows therefore that the report is used when allocating jobs toservice providers because it helps determine which providers areavailable.

It is important that there is a self-checking mechanism to ensure thatall customers are being properly serviced. Accordingly unallocatedservice provider module 60 enables a list of jobs to be provided whichhave approved quotes but which have not been allocated a serviceprovider.

The overdue data gathering module 61 is a means for ensuring that alldata gathering processes are completed by a service provider.

Therefore if a data gathering deadline has passed an exceptions reportis produced which is able to be sent to management and to the serviceprovider. The overdue data gathering module is able to retrieve data andstore it in a file including job number, clients name, data gatherersname (usually the service providers), date the data was to be gatheredfor that job, service deliverers name (usually the service providers),and date that the job is to be finalised.

The report which issues from this module is used to monitor that alldata gathering processes have been completed so that the final dates canbe forecast and fulfilled. This process also enables the client to beinformed if any changes are made to allocate dates.

The unattended service provider module 62 initiates procedures toproduce an exceptions report listing all jobs that have a data gatheringdate but which do not have a final date.

It is the responsibility of each service provider to organise the finalservice date with the client. From the data gathering date and fromusing turn around times, the service provider can arrange a final datewith the client. If that date is unsuitable to the client then a dateafter the date proposed by the service provider can be organised.

The work TBA module is able to provide a file listing all jobs that havebeen approved and put on hold. A comments field is provided against eachjob number so that the reasons for the job being put on hold can bereviewed.

As part of the installation process it is frequently necessary to havefollow up service to either install additional components or to checkand maintain the initial installation. For this reason a service reportsmodule is provided as part of the customer service module.

The service reports module 52 includes the options of an unallocatedservice calls module 64, an outstanding service calls module 65, and aservice reasons by fault module 66.

The unallocated service calls module provides a file listing servicecalls that have not yet been assigned to a service provider. This may bebecause the service calls often occur months after the final date ofinstallation.

The outstanding service calls module 65 is able to access data on eachjob and produce a file of outstanding service calls. A report is thenable to be issued for the service provider to attend to theseoutstanding service calls.

Because it is important that all installation jobs meet a certain levelof quality it is important that feed back is obtained or there is aproblem associated with an installation. However the module 66 is alsoable to be used to monitor any faults in the overall managementprocedure covered by the management software. If any person involved inthe quoting to installation procedure perceives a fault to have occurredthis can be entered into a file created by the service reasons by faultmodule and a list of these faults can then be reviewed by management.

Operations

The management system so far has outlined the processes required inorder to manage job quotation operations as well as customer serviceoperations. However it is important that products required for thecustomer service part of the management system be made available so thatinstallation dates can be met.

Accordingly the operations process is necessary to produce all productssold in sales before the due date of supply. In order to perform thistask an operations module 13 is provided which is able to access andstore data and schedule particular operations.

Every product has a set procedure. Whether the product is completelyfabricated in house or is purchased and brought in as a completed item,it still requires a process in order to be available to the installationteam (service provider) upon a given day. Each product is thereforegiven an ID number which in turn will have a sequence of procedures thatare required for that particular product in order for it to reach thecompleted product stage. When products are sold they are processed intothe operations area through the process schedular. This schedular sortsthe varied processes of the individual products, notes the supply dateand sets those processes into a formal onto daily worksheets.

The worksheets enable a business to view the upcoming workload. Thebusiness is then able to foresee any shortages in materials, calculatethe staff levels required to complete the work, or have the ability tomove an operation process in order to flatten out work flow so as not tofollow the up and down trends of sales.

It is possible to monitor any shortfalls and forewarn management of anyproducts that are exceeding the date that will prevent the product beingready to be supplied on a committed date. This is achieved by way ofexception reports which are produced by individual modules of theoperations module 13.

In summary the management system is able to control work flow, monitorwork performances and sequences to ensure all products, regardless ofthe type are ready for supply on an agreed date.

The operations module 13 is split into four sub modules including a dataentry module 70, an operations schedular 71, an order schedules module72, and a reports module 73.

The data entry module 70 includes two options. One of these is a find ajob/quote module 74, and the other is a find operational details-75.

The find job/quote module 74 is similar to that described in relation tomodules 53 and 17.

The find operational details module 75 is used to enter operationaldetails after verification is completed by an employee or to simply viewwhat operational details have previously been entered.

A file (as shown in Table 1) is created of operational details whichlists the products sold by a particular sales representative. Theproducts in the files should be listed as per the original quotation bythe sales representative.

All of the processes required to complete a product for delivery arelisted under their own tab. These include cut products, cut orders,powder coating, rework products, cut accessories, rework accessories,job details.

Each process can be viewed to determine the status of the product at anytime.

The operations schedular module 71 creates and stores scheduler filesassociated with each product. Each product will have its own processesin order to be completed to the supply stage. In the settings module 15each products processes and time sequence on those processes is set intothe system. TABLE 1

Each product has operational details which are automated and driven by asupply date of a job. The operation schedular however includes a cutscheduler which enables a user to have flexibility, whereby it ispossible to change one or all of the dates for processes involved in themanufacture of a product.

The cut scheduler (as shown in Table 2) is a file which is created bythe operations schedular and includes data related to job number,process, starting and finishing date as well as main process dates suchas frame cut date, infill cut date, lock punch date, lock assembly date,meshing date, assembly date as well as other characteristics such asdimensional and colour of the particular product.

It is possible to move processes to a future date by changing only oneof the dates. All the other related dates will then be automaticallymoved accordingly.

It should be noted that if the dates are moved forward so as the supplydate cannot be kept, the system will bring up a warning message. If theprocess dates end up being after the supply dates then it is necessaryto change the supply dates and advise the client.

The operations schedular 71 thus enables manufacturing staff to work outwhat products need to be made and a schedule is automatically producedof the particular procedures required to produce that product by a setdate.

As a corollary to the above it is necessary to monitor the amount ofwork that is allocated by manufacturing staff. If there are many jobsrequiring products to be made by particulars dates then it is necessaryto prioritise those jobs.

The operations schedular therefore also provides an operational worksheet file being a report that calculates within a given day allproducts requiring a given set process. TABLE 2

It sorts by product type and allocates the product an ID number thatwill be identifiable throughout the operational process.

As an example the report will show a particular product, a cut ID,colour frame type, quantity, dimensions, coverings such as a powdercoating, and the production date.

The order schedules modules 72 stores files relating to products whichneed to be outsourced as represented by items 76. Accordingly a listingof outsourced products is provided in an outsourced schedule file. Thefile lists the dates each product needs to be ready, the date theproduct was ordered, the date the product is due to arrive and confirmeddate of delivery arriving.

The final step in the operations module 13 is controlling productforecasting. Accordingly a forecast reports module 77 has a forecastreport sub-program with a file structure which allows a list of productsrequired within a given date range to be retrieved and listing.

The search file also enables a search for jobs that require rework (alist of all products from an order that may be required to be reworkeddue to the product not being correct), normal jobs only or all jobs.

The forecast reports module 77 also enables data to be retrievedrelating to exceeded process dates 78, exceeded supply dates 79 andoverdue outsourced products 80.

It is also noted that any job may have an associated priority added toit whereby jobs with a priority can be viewed by using the forecastreports search facility.

FIG. 5 shows a flow chart of general administration procedures which arecontrolled by the management software system.

Because the focus of many businesses is in the sales, operations andsupply areas, much more time is spent on managing the selling of as muchproduct as possible, rather than the lesser priorities of supplying theproduct in order to recover any monies owing and to pay creditors by thedue date. The administrative duties are often neglected until all otherprocesses are completed.

According to the preferred embodiment an administration module 17controls key operations associated with debtors, payroll and accountingby way of separate debtors module 90, payroll module 91 and accountingmodule 92. Preferably the management system of the present inventionprovides the business with a business administration system that indesign reduces structures and controls the workload on the necessaryadministrative tasks. These tasks however are integrated with the othermanagement tasks which have been previously described.

The debtors module 70 features full debtor control program withautomated invoicing backed up by a full reporting structure on ourstanding accounts.

Separate modules are provided for debtor reports 93, debtor control 94,banking 95 and invoicing 96. Each of the debtor reports 93 areassociated with a job/quote and utilise programs which are able toreconcile payments, aged trial balance, debtor summary and debtorageing. Each of the other administration modules provide typical debtor,payroll and accounting functions which are able to retrieve data fromthe operations, sales and customer service modules of the managementsystem.

As shown in FIG. 6 an overview is provided of the processes which aremonitored and controlled by the management software system of thepreferred embodiment of the invention.

The management software system thus accepts data relating to a clientand the source of referral which directed the client to the business asreferenced by item 100.

The software management program also monitors leads generated 101 fromthe initial client contact and allocates a sales rep to handle the jobof providing a quote for the client, as monitored and controlled byprotocols referenced by item 101.

The software management system also monitors any jobs that are notallocated to a sales rep for any particular reason. Thus a module of thesoftware is able to produce an exception report named “Unallocated Job”and referenced by item 102.

The software program ensures that the sales rep allocated with the jobvisits the client, obtains the necessary data to prepare a quote andthen prepares the quote and gives it to the client by a particular date.

As an important part of the software program is to advise management ofany procedures that are not completed, module 101 is able to produceexception reports 104 which include details on unquoted jobs, expiredfollow-ups, pending jobs and cancelled jobs.

If the client approves a quote, then the quote becomes a job which isprocessed as such by the go-ahead module referenced by item 105. Fromthis module, management reports can be obtained about statisticsrelating to the quotation process. Reports which are able to be obtainedfrom module 105 are referenced by item 106 and include actual sales,strike rates, statistics, lead times and revenue timing.

Details of a go-ahead job are then processed by an information gatheringmodule of the software program as referenced by item 107. Informationnecessary in order to start manufacturing of a job is gathered by usingmanagement reports 108 which indicate when further information isrequired and report on what type of information this is.

If information gathering does not take place within stipulated timelimits an exceptions report issues as referenced by item 109.

Once all the necessary checks have been made and information iscorrectly available the business processing part of the software is thenoperated to ensure that any products and/or services are made availableready for installation. Thus the business processing module 110 coversissues of scheduling, manufacturing and allocation of labour andresources. Management reporting is provided from the business processingmodule 110 and enables reports 111 on product or service forecasts andbusiness process reports. Any deadlines that are passed in the businessprocessing part of the module are output as exception reports 112.

Once all products and/or service resources are available forinstallation to occur, service module 113 monitors and controlsinstallation-related activities. It should be noted however that theinvention covers not just installation but businesses primarilyproviding services or businesses providing products alone or acombination of products and services.

Management reports 114 are provided from the service module and theseinclude details on service forecasts, provider manifests, service workto be advised and service reasons by fault.

Problems that may occur within the service routine are provided asexception reports 115 and cover unattended provider, unallocated servicecalls and outstanding service calls.

When a product has been installed by appropriate installing labour, acompleted and paid-jobs module of the software 116 deals withadministrative actions associated with the business. Management reports117 can be obtained from this module and include data on debtor reports,invoice running, bank reports and aged trial balance.

Debtor control is managed using exception reports 118 and includedetails on exceeded credit and exceeded terms for clients.

Payroll and accounting modules 119 and 120 respectively all form part ofa general administration module and are able to process data from othermodules as required. The payroll module 119 produces management reports121 including details on approved sales and commission required by reps.Any unpaid commissions appear as an exceptions report 122.

The accounting module 120 deals with standard revenue reconciliationduties such as trade debtors, sales, gst adjustments and receipts underthe management reports 123.

The example given in FIG. 6 gives a brief outline of the overall processinvolved in managing a business that provides a product such as asecurity screen to a client in a domestic, commercial or other area ofactivity. The principals involved however, extend to many types ofbusinesses where a job needs to be quoted and the quote accepted by theclient before it becomes a job which is revenue gaining for thebusiness.

It is to be understood that, if any prior art publication is referred toherein, such reference does not constitute an admission that thepublication forms a part of the common general knowledge in the art, inAustralia or in any other country.

1. A management system for a business, which management system isadapted for implementation by a computer, the management systemcomprising a job inquiry and quotation means which is adapted to receivedata relating to a request from a client to provide a quote for theprovision of at least one product and/or service and operate a quotescheduling means to retrieve predetermined quote data whereby a scheduleis created for a quote date being a date for providing the quote to theclient, a job management means which is adapted to receive data relatingto a successful quote approved by a client, including the or eachproduct and or service requested by the client and operate an operationsscheduling means to retrieve predetermined operations data to create anoperations schedule to schedule resources required for the provision ofthe or each product and/or service for the successful quote and store aprovision deadline being the date by which the product and/or service ofthe successful quote should be provided to the client who approved thesuccessful quote.
 2. The management system as claimed in claim 1 whereinthe operations scheduling means is adapted to schedule labour and goodsrequired for the provision of the or each product and/or service foreach successful quote.
 3. The management system as claimed in claim 2wherein the resources include labour and goods.
 4. The management systemas claimed in claim 2 or 3 wherein the operations scheduling means isadapted to schedule procedures involving the resources, which proceduresenable the provision of the or each product and/or service for eachsuccessful quote.
 5. The management system as claimed in claim 4including an administration means which is adapted to record datarelating to input and output costs of the business being managed by themanagement system.
 6. The management system as claimed in claim 4 or 5wherein the job enquiry and quotation means is adapted to create a jobenquiry labour database for storing names of persons able to act on theenquiry and provide the quote.
 7. The management system as claimed inclaim 6 wherein the job enquiry and quotation means is adapted to createa database of products and/or services available for the quote.
 8. Themanagement system as claimed in claim 7 wherein the operationsscheduling means includes quote allocation means which is adapted toallocate a quote person from the job enquiry labour database to providethe quote.
 9. The management system as claimed in claim 8 wherein thejob enquiry and quotation means is adapted to create a pending quotesrequest database including data relating to the client requesting quoteand the or each product and/or service for which a quote is requested.10. The management system as claimed in claim 9 wherein the quote dataincludes the quote person, the client, the product and/or service, thedate for visiting the client and the due date for supplying the quote tothe client.
 11. The management system as claimed in claim 10 wherein thejob enquiry and quotation means includes quote monitoring means formonitoring when each quote request is answered by the quote person. 12.The management system as claimed in claim 11 wherein the job enquiry andquotation means is adapted to create a source of enquiry database whichincludes a list of sources of enquiries.
 13. The management system asclaimed in claim 12 including a setting means which is adapted toreceive reference data relating to each product and/or service availableto the business.
 14. The management system as claimed in claim 13wherein the job enquiry and quotation means includes a data entry meanswhich is adapted to receive data relating to the request from a client,being a new job and create a file for each new job.
 15. The managementsystem as claimed in claim 14 wherein each job file includes datarelating to the client and the product and/or service requested by theclient.
 16. The management system as claimed in claim 15 wherein thequote allocation means is adapted to retrieve quote persons names fromthe job enquiry labour database whereby one or more quote persons namesmay be added to the new job file to thereby provide the quote requestedby the client.
 17. The management system as claimed in claim 16 whereinthe quote allocation means is adapted to automatically search databasesand allocate a quote person to a new job based on predetermined criteriarelating to jobs already allocated to the quote person.
 18. Themanagement system as claimed in claim 17 wherein the quote monitoringmeans includes an overdue indicator which is adapted to provide anoverdue output indication if a quote request is not answered by the duedate by the quote person.
 19. The management system as claimed in claim18 wherein the job enquiry and quotation means is adapted to recordunsuccessful quotes and data related thereto.
 20. The management systemas claimed in claim 19 wherein the job enquiry and quotation meansincludes a job enquiry manifest means for creating a job manifest foreach quote request using data from any one or more of the databases. 21.The management system as claimed in claim 20 wherein the job enquirymanifest means is adapted to create a job manifest for each quoteperson.
 22. The management system as claimed in claim 21 wherein the jobmanifest includes data relating to each quote request including clientdetails, product and/or service details and due date details.
 23. Themanagement system as claimed in claim 1 or claim 22 wherein the jobmanagement means is adapted to create a resourcing database includingdata relating to each product and/or service available to be provided bythe business, raw materials available to make the or each type ofproduct and/or service and resource labour available to provide eachtype of product and/or service.
 24. The management system as claimed inclaim 23 wherein the job management means includes a manufacturingoperation means which includes procedures required to manufacture atleast one type of product.
 25. The management system as claimed in claim24 wherein the manufacturing operation means includes timing data forsetting times for commencing and finishing procedures required formanufacture of one or more products.
 26. The management system asclaimed in claim 25 wherein the operation scheduling means includesresource allocation means which is adapted to retrieve data from theresourcing database and allocate resource labour to produce at least oneproduct and/or service required for one or more clients.
 27. Themanagement system as claimed in claim 26 wherein the operationsscheduling means is adapted to create a file having data relating to ajob/quote, being a successful quote, the products and/or servicesassociated with the job/quote and the manufacturing operation means. 28.The management system as claimed in claim 27 wherein the manufacturingoperation means includes a plurality of manufacturing operationsoptions, each manufacturing operation option being adapted to store datarelating to procedures required to complete at least one manufacturingprocess for a product.
 29. The management system as claimed in claim 28wherein the manufacturing operation means includes a process schedulerwhich is adapted to store timing data for at least one of themanufacturing operations for a particular job/quote and calculate andproduce timing data associated with other manufacturing operations forthe job/quote.
 30. The management system as claimed in claim 29 whereinthe resource allocation means is adapted to retrieve procedures from themanufacturing operation means, which procedures are required to producethe/each product and/or service whereby a resourcing manifest is able tobe created including data relating to the requested product and/orservice of the successful quote, the job/quote, the allocated productresource labour and completion date for providing the/each productand/or service whereby it is available for the client of the successfulquote.
 31. The management system as claimed in claim 1 or 30 includingprovision control means which is adapted to record each provision date,being the date for providing the or each product and/or service of asuccessful quote to the associated client.
 32. The management system asclaimed in claim 31 wherein the provision control means is adapted tocreate a provision database including data on each provision personavailable to provide the or each service to an associated client. 33.The management system as claimed in claim 32 wherein the provisioncontrol means is adapted to create a provision manifest including thename of each provision person to provide the or each product and/orservice, the job/quote, provision procedures including procedures toprovide the or each product and/or service to an associated client and aprovision deadline being a deadline for providing the or each productand/or service to the associated client.
 34. A computer program forcontrolling a business, the computer program comprising a job inquiryand quotation means which is adapted to control a data processor toreceive and store data relating to a request from a client to provide aquote for the provision of at least one product and/or service andoperate a quote scheduling means to schedule a quote data being a datefor providing the quote to the client, and a job management means whichis adapted to control a data processor to receive data relating to eachsuccessful quote approved by each client including the or each productand/or service requested by each client, control an operationsscheduling means which is adapted to schedule labour and goods requiredfor the provision of the or each product and/or service for eachsuccessful quote and store a provision deadline for each successfulquote, the provision deadline being the date by which the product and/orservice of the successful quote should be provided to the client whoapproved the successful quote.
 35. A computer program as claimed inclaim 34 wherein the quote scheduling means is adapted to schedule quotelabour to provide the quote, a quote deadline for the quote labour toprovide the quote, a visit deadline being a date for the quote labour tovisit the client and obtain data relating to preparing the quote andcontrol the data processor to set up a quote labour manifest includingdata relating to selected successful quotes allocated to the quotelabour.